The U.K.’s Mercury Rain is one of the newer bands to enter into the symphonic metal fray with their latest CD, ST. MATTHIEU. Armed with catchy riffs, driving rhythms, and the requisite female siren to front the band, Mercury Rain appears to be poised to infiltrate the records collections of Nightwish fans everywhere.

But wait! This is considerably crunchier and less bombastic than Nightwish, with a much bigger emphasis on guitars rather than keyboards (evidenced by the fact that Mercury Rain does not have a full-time keyboard player). The first song, “Sanctuary” shows the true potential within Mercury Rain’s music with its heavy riffage and thankfully non-operatic vocals of Sonia Porzier. “The Messenger” adds in some growled vocals that fill out the sound behind Sonia while elsewhere the band fearlessly shows off its slight prog tendencies on the title track. Still, fans of bombastic power metal need not fear, as there are many moments here that recall the best of that much-maligned genre.

While this is certainly a competent and enjoyable disc, I find that I can’t fully absorb it. The songs all kind of sound the same with chugging mid-paced riffs, and Sonia’s voice, while good, is not as captivating as it should be. Plus, Sonia’s melodic choices often sound like they are repeated again and again throughout the disc. Despite this however, fans of this genre of metal can easily feel confident in blindly purchasing ST. MATTHIEU knowing that they will easily enjoy this disc. For the rest? Mercury Rain will not convince you to suddenly buy every symphonic metal album. For me, call this album respected, but at a distance.